Historical Evidence of Tempi in the 18 th and 19 th Centuries The purpose of this document is to bring together a comprehensive body of historical sources describing the musical tempi that have been practiced in the 18 th and 19 th centuries in Europe. The document lists over 250 different sources of various kinds (from composers, musical reviews, concert programs, playbills, and eyewitness testimony), that provide measurements of concert timings and calculated estimates of various musical pieces in minutes and hours. 1 *** For the sake of convenience, all the data is arranged in a roughly chronological order. The source references are provided in the footnotes, sometimes with direct web links. I have made an effort to locate the primary documents whenever possible—otherwise scholarly publications are cited. All the cited musical reviews are freely available online and could be easily found through a search in Google Books. 2 I would encourage the reader to compare the listed timing with modern recordings (or with the composer’s metronome numbers when available) to get the sense of the tempi involved. 3 For comments, questions, or if you know of sources I didn’t mention, please contact me via fafner1988@gmail.com. If you like this document, feel free to share it. 1 I would like to thank Joris Lejeune and Aldo Roberto Pessolano for their invaluable help in providing me with sources, translation and metronome calculations. 2 A very extensive alphabetical list of historical music journals and newspapers (including links) is available at https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Zeitschriften_(Musik) 3 For some pieces I have provided suggested calculations (always in single-beat), which the reader may check for himself, and also timings of modern recordings for comparison. Table of Contents Handel Mozart Haydn Opera Playbills Beethoven Mendelssohn Berlioz Wagner Liszt Brahms Alkan Cesar Franck Concert Timings Interpretation and Analysis Appendix: Early 19th Century Descriptions of the Metronome [3] [5] [8] [12] [14] [24] [25] [27] [28] [33] [38] [41] [42] [56] [64] 3 Note: AMZ = Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung Handel : Solomon : 4 2 hours and 10 minutes Judas Maccabaeus : 5 1 hour and 45 minutes 6 Esthe r : 7 “two and a half hours” 8 Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline (HWV 264): 9 “ The an them was yesterday Morning rehears’d at the French Chapel adjoining to St. James’s Palace; there were about 140 Performers; it took up just 50 minutes in the Rehearsal, and t he Music was extremely grand and solemn” ( The London Evening - Post, Dec. 1737) 10 11 4 Gardiner’s recording of the piece lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes. 5 Modern recordings of the pieces can last from 2 hours and 20 minutes up to 2 hours and 50 minutes. 6 Quoted from Han del by Donald Burrows, p.404. https://books.google.com/books?id=8fHja - D - FvsC&pg=PA404 7 Modern recordings of the pieces last from an hour and a half to two hours, depending on the e dition of the score. 8 Performance Practice: A Dictionary - guide for Musicians by Roland John Jackson, p.176. https://books.google.com/books?id=_w32_CqDNWkC&pg=PA176 9 Typical modern recordings of the piece last around 45 minutes. 10 Quoted from Handel and the English Chapel Royal by Donald Burrows, p. 364. 11 Ibid, p.366. 4 Michel Richard de Lalande ’s (1657 – 1726) Te Deum : “ 30 - 35 minutes ” 12 Quantz (1752) : “To insure a proportional length, even in a concerto, consult a timepiece. If the first movement takes five minutes, the Adagio five to six, and the last movement three to four, the whole is of the proper length. And it is in general more advantageous if the listeners find a piece rather too short than too long.” (from Versuch einer Anweisun g die Flöte traversiere zu spielen ) 13 C.P.E. Bach’s Heilig ist Gott (Wq 217) (1779) : 14 12 Quoted from Doucement and légèrement: tempo in French Baroque music by Lionel Sawkins, p.369. See the table on p. 370 for timings of individual movements. As the author notes in a footnote to the article, most of the existing recordings of the piece do not perform the complete score, except the recording by Paul Colleaux on Erato who closely adheres to the indicated t iming by de Lalande. 13 Quoted from Source Readings in Music History by Oliver Strunk, p.588. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.29049/page/n612 14 Quoted from C.P.E. B ach by David Schulenberg, pp.379 - 381. 5 Mozart Letter by Wolfgang Mozart to Padre Martini from September 4, 1776: “ Our church music is very different from that of ltaly, since a mass with the whole Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Epistle sonata, the Offertory or Motet, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei must not last longer than three quarters of an hour. This applies even to the most Solemn Mass said by the Archbishop himsel f ” 15 L etter by Leopold Mozart to W olfgang from September 1778: “Yesterday I was for the first time [this season] the director of the great concert at court. At present the music ends at around a quarter past eight. Yesterday it began around seven o’clock and, as I left, a quarter past eigh t struck – thus an hour and a quarter. Generally only four pieces are performed: a symphony, an aria, a symphony or concerto, then an aria, and with this, Addio!” 16 Mozart’s La Finta Semplice : 17 2.5 - 3 hours “ It is not an opera seria, for no operas of that k ind are being given now, and moreover, people do not like them. It is an opera buffa, but not a short one, for it is to last about two hours and a half or three hours. ” (letter by Leopold Mozart from January 30, 1768 ) 18 15 Quoted from The Letters of Mozart and his Family by Stanley Sadie and Fiona Smart (eds.), p.113. https://books.google.com/books?id=k5qvCwAAQBAJ &pg=PA113 16 Quoted from The Cambridge Companion to Mozart (Simon P. Keefe ed.), p.15. https://books.google.com/books?id=tBpwd6f - Rt8C&pg=PA15 17 The uncut version of the oper a takes 2 hours and 45 minutes on a recording by Leopold Hager issued on Orfeo and Brilliant. 18 Quoted from Opera Buffa in Mozart's Vienna by Mary Hunter and James Webster (eds.), p.43. https://books.google.com/books?id=uZrFCNsmBlkC&pg=PA43 The complete letter in German is found in https://books.google.com/books?id=uPvtlUJuMNsC&pg=PA134 6 Mozart’s Mitridate : 19 around 4 hours ( probably less) “ this opera with its three ballets lasts six good hours. The ballets [not by Mozart] , however, are now going to be shortened, for they last two hours at least. ” (letter by Leopold Mozart to his wife from December 29, 1770) 20 21 Mozart’s Don Giovanni : 22 2.5 hours - “ The curtain rises at 7 o ' clock and falls at 9.30 o'clock. ” (announcement in a Prague newspaper from October 30, 1787 [ conducted by Mozart? ] ) 23 - Opera play bill for a Prague production of September 23 , 1788 (conducted by Mozart?): 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM 24 - Opera playbill for a Leipzig production of June 15 1788 : 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM. 25 19 Modern uncut recordings of the opera take around 3 hours. 20 Quoted from The Letters of Mozart and his Family , p.176. https://books.google.com/books?id=k5qvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 21 Quoted from The Grotesque Dancer on the Eighteenth - century Stage by Rebecca Harris - Warrick and Bruce Alan B rown (eds.), p.16. https://books.google.com/books?id=dmCHTvwwlH0C&pg=PA15 22 The Prague and Vienna versions of the opera take around 2 hours and 40 minutes on Gardiner’s recording. 23 Qu oted from Mozart: A Documentary Biography by Otto Erich Deutsch, p.302. https://books.google.com/books?id=e8AtwaddUW4C&pg=PA302 24 https://c7.alamy.com/comp/KD6NKG/oldest - playbill - in - existence - for - performance - of - wolfgang - amadeus - mozarts - KD6NKG.jpg 25 https://c7.alamy.com/comp/KD6NKP/playbill - for - leipzig - premiere - of - wolfgang - amadeus - mozarts - opera - don - KD6NKP.jpg 7 Mozart’s Requiem KV.626: “ lasts a good hour ” (1796) 26 26 Quoted from Mozart's Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Docu ments, Score by Christoph Wolff, p.138. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjFqJy1bE - sC&pg=PA138 8 Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ : 27 “ An entire new work, consisting of purely instrumental music, divide d into seven sonatas, of which each sonata lasts from seven to eight minutes, together with an introduction, and at the end a terremoto or earthquake [ ... ] The Whole work lasts somewhat more than an hour. ” 28 The Creation : 29 30 - “two hours” (duration of the première on A pril 29 or 30 1798 , as reported by Giuseppe Carpani [1751 - 1828]) 31 - “both Süssmayr ’s “Der Retter in Gefahr” on September 19, 1796, and Haydn ’ s Die Schöpfung on December 26, 1802, were advertised as lasting from 12:00 to 2:00 P.M.” 32 The Seasons : 33 “the initial performance [...] lasted about three hours” (1801) 34 The London S ymphonies taking “nearly twenty - five minutes”: 35 27 Most modern recordings usually last between 1 hour and 1 hour and 10 minutes. 28 Quote d from Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven: 1781 - 1802: 1781 – 1802 b y Daniel Heartz, p.342. https://books.google.com/books?id=0wp2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA342 29 Most modern recordings la st between 1 hour and 40 minutes (Gardiner) to 2 hours. 30 Quoted from Choral Monuments: Studies of Eleven Choral Masterworks by Dennis Shrock, p.175. https://books.google.com/books?id= ZTElDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA175 ; see also Heartz p.585. 31 Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven, 1781 - 1802 by Daniel Heartz, p.589. The Italian source is at https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Kx4 Uk07LwBsC/page/n189 32 Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna by Mary Sue Morrow, p.147. 33 Modern recordings of the piece can take between 2 hours & 16 min. (Gardiner) and 2 hours & 24 min. (Beecham). 34 Heartz, p.630. https://books.google.com/books?id=0wp2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA630 35 The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review vol.8, 1826. https://books.google.com/books?id=au82AQAA MAAJ&pg=PA306 9 Te Deum : 36 “lasted for about fifteen minutes” (1812) 37 A description from 1802 o f a Viennese theater orchestra: “In the many pe rformances of Die Zauberflöte this very orchestra has not yet once performed the overture without error. The articulation of the bass strings is continually lost through the exaggerated rapidity of the tempo. Instead of the precisely calculated effect of r egular syncopation, the whole thing was like a comic horse race where one almost fell over the other.” 38 Estimate of concert lengths in Vienna from around 1804: 39 36 Most modern recordings last around 8 minutes. 37 Baierische National - Zeitung , 1812, p.1027. 38 Quoted from The Orchestra in Beethoven’s Vienna by Clive Brown, p.171 (in Classical and Romantic Music edited by David Milsom). https://books.google.com/books?id=yCgxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT231 39 Quoted from Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna by Mary Sue Morrow, p.147. 10 “An opera together with a ballet should last no more than 3 hours; a concerto 15 minutes; and a symphony no more than half an hour.” (AMZ 1811, p.325) 40 Mozart’s Fantasia in F minor K.608: 41 “9 minutes in duration” (AMZ 1799 , p.877) Mozart’s Splendente te, Deus K.Anh.121: “7 minutes” (AMZ 1805, p.163) Vincenzo Righini’s Te Deum : “half an hour” (AM Z 1810, p.425) Salieri’s Variations on ‘La F olia di Spagna’ : 42 “ 15 minutes ” (1815) 43 Handel’s Messiah : 44 2 and a half hours (“So dauert das Ganze einige Minuten über dritthalb Stunden”) — including intermissions (AMZ 1817, p.365) 45 Purcell’s O give thanks unto the Lord : 46 “about ten minutes” (1825) 47 Weber’s Der Freischütz : the Wolf’s Glen scene taking “quarter of an hour” (1825 Covent Garden production). 48 Hummel’s S onata No. 5 in F - Sharp Minor, Op. 81: 49 “9 minutes for the last movement, in no way a rushed tempo” (AMZ 1828, p.447) 50 40 https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBVDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA325 41 Modern recordings of the pieces usually take around 9 - 10 minutes. 42 Modern recordings take around 17 - 20 minutes. 43 The duration appears on the first page of Salieri’s autograph score which is available at https://imslp.org/wiki/26_Variations_on_'La_folia_di_Spagna'_(Salieri%2C_Antonio) ; see also p.10 of https://www.academia.edu/7023803/_La_folia_in_Late_Eighteenth - _and_Early_Nineteenth - Century_Vienna 44 The timing is identical to Trevor Pinnock’s HIP recording on Archive. 45 See the ori ginal article for a complete list of the numbers performed: https://books.google.com/books?id=HcQ2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA363 46 Modern recordings are around 10 minutes. 47 The Harmonicon vol.3, 1825, p.186. https://books.google.com/books?id=a8IJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA186 The author also notes that “Not many anthems exceed a dozen minutes in duration; many are much less” (ibid). 48 T he Harmonicon vol.3, p.224. 49 According to Hummel’s metronome indications, the last movement of the sonata should take about 7 minutes in performance. 50 https://books.google.com/book s?id=fRNDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA447 11 Moscheles’s Piano Concerto no.1 in F Major : 51 “took twenty minutes” [in a performance by the composer] (1823) 52 53 Length of symphonies: “on an average, occupy nearly half an hour in performance.” (the program of the concert included Be ethoven’s 2 nd and Mozart’s Jupiter .) (1831) 54 Donizetti’s Vivi tu, te ne scongiuro (Anna Bolena): “four minutes” (18 34 ) 55 L o uis Spohr’s ( 1784 – 1859 ) Symphony No.4 in F Major , Op.86 : 56 - “fifty minutes” (1834) 57 - “three quarters of an hour” (1851) 58 51 According to the composer’s MMs , the piece should take approximately 19.5 minutes. 52 The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c vol.1, 1823, p.365. https://books.google.com/books?id=jeoRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA365 53 The edition cited by the review could be downloaded from - https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concer to_No.1%2C_Op.45_(Moscheles%2C_Ignaz) 54 The Harmonicon vol.9, 1831, p.98. https://books.google.com/books?id=26ymWe8Ban8C&pg=PA98 55 Supplement to the Musical Library , 1834, p.104. 56 Ba sed on Spohr’s MMs, the symphony should take around 40 minutes. 57 Supplement to the Musical Library , 1834, p.20. 12 Opera p layb il ls ( note: all hours are in PM time) Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail : (2.5 - 3 hours) - Dessau 1807: 6:00 – 8:30 59 - Frankfurt 1810: 6:00 – 9:00 60 - Munich 1811: 6:00 – 8 :30 61 - Weimar 1817 : 6:00 – 8:30 62 Le nozze di Figaro : (3 hours) - Munich 1806: 6:00 – 9:00 63 - Fran kfurt 1812: 6:00 – 9:00 64 - Weimar 18 23 : 6:00 – 9:00 65 Don Giovanni : (3 hours) - Weimar 1807 : 6:00 – 9:00 66 - Frankfurt 1810: 6:00 – 9:00 67 - Munich 1811: 6:00 – 9:00 68 Cosi fan Tutte : (2.5 hours) - Munich 1812: 6:00 – 8 :30 69 - Weimar 1818: 6:00 – 8:30 70 La clemenza di Tito : (2.5 - 3 hours) - Weimar 1807 : 6:00 – 8:30 71 - Frankfurt 1808: 6:30 – 9:00 72 - Munich 1812: 6:00 – 9:00 73 58 The Musical World vol.29, 1851 p.733. 59 https://st.museum - digital.d e/index.php?t=objekt&oges=2686 60 https://books.google.com/books?id=1WhLAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA5 - PA3 61 https://books .google.com/books?id=g7pDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP137 62 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00038948/004127.tif 63 https://books.google.com/books?id=gbpDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP37 64 https://books.google.com/books?id=3mhLAAAAcAAJ&pg=P T46 65 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00036904/004907.tif 66 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00045648/002785.tif 67 https://b ooks.google.com/books?id=1WhLAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA2 - PA9 68 https://books.google. com /books?id=g7pDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP37 69 https://books.google.com/books?id=h7pDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP167 70 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00038697 /004226.tif 71 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00045730/002756.tif 72 https://books.google.com/books?id=zWhLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP19 73 https://books.google.com/books?id=h7pDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP35 13 - Frankfurt 1817: 6:00 – 9:00 74 Die Zauberflöte : (3 hours) - Weimar 1807: 6:00 – 9:00 75 - Stuttgart 1809: 5:00 – 8:00 76 - Frankfurt 1810: 6:00 – 9:00 77 Gluck Iphigénie en Tauride : (2.5 - 3 hours) - Frankfurt 1810: 6:00 – 8:30 78 - Weimar 1818: 6:00 – 9:00 79 Iphigénie en Aulide : (2.5 hours) - Weimar 1821 : 6:00 – 8:30 80 Weber Der Freischütz : (2.5 - 3 hours) - Berlin June 18th 1821: 6:00 – 9:00 (premiere conducted by the composer) 81 - Berlin 18 22 : 6:00 – 8:30 82 - Weimar 1822: 6:00 – 8:30 83 Oberon : (3 hours) - Weimar 1828: 6:00 – 9:00 84 - Munich 1829: 6:30 – 9:30 85 Bellini - I Capuleti e i Montecchi : Munich 1834: 6:30 – 9:00 (2.5 hours) 86 - Il pirata : Munich 1834: 6:30 – 9:00 (2.5 hours) 87 74 https://books.google.com/books?id=RGRLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP119 75 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/s taatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00045617/002797.tif 76 https://books.google.com/books?id=6GVLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP181 77 https://books.google.com/books?id=1WhLAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1 - PA5 78 https://books.google.com/books?id=1WhLAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA3 - PA10 79 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00038660/004245.tif 80 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00037682/004613.tif 81 https://c7.alamy.com/comp/B40NHP/weber - carl - maria - von - 18111786 - 561826 - german - composer - opera - der - freischuetz - B40NHP.jpg 82 http://www.deutschefotothek.de/doc uments/obj/80932710/df_hauptkatalog_0751249 83 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00037257/004799.tif 84 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00033409/005569.tif 85 https://books.google. com /books?id=xylDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP381 86 https://books.google. com /books?id=T81DAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP169 87 https://books.google. com /books?id=hSpDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP45 14 Cherubini ’s Lodoïska : 2.5 - 3 hours - Frankfurt 1810: 6:00 – 9:00 88 - Weimar 1835: 6:00 – 8:30 89 Beethoven: The E r oica Symphony (no.3) : - “lasts an entire hour” ( conducted by the composer ) (AMZ 1805 , p.501 ) - “nearly hour - long” (AMZ 1807 , p.497 ) - “fifty minutes” (AMZ 1811, p.6 6 ) - Marche Funebre (2 nd movement): “three quarters of an hour” (1823, Conducted by J. Cramer) 90 - “full three quarters of an hour” ( 1824, Conducted by J. Cramer ) 91 - “three quarters of an hour” (1829) 92 - “lasted 46 minutes” (1829) 93 - “forty minutes” (1837) 94 - “lasts almost an hour” (1839) 95 The Pastoral Symphony (no.6) : - “the andante alone is upwards of a quarter of an hour” (1823) 96 - “lasts nearly three quarters of an hour” (1824) 97 - “spun out to upwards of three - quarters of an hour” ( 1826 ) 98 - “forty minutes” (1828) 99 - “a slow movement a quarter of an hour long” 100 7 th Symphony : - “at least fifty minutes” (1823) 101 88 https://books.google.com/books?id=1WhLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA7 89 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive/rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00029519/006659.tif 90 The Harmonicon vol.2, 1823, p.53. 91 The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Rev iew vol.VI, 1824, p.68. 92 The Harmonicon 1829, p.92. 93 The Athenaeum , 1829, p.172 94 The Musical World vol.5, 1837, p.185. 95 Allgemeiner musikalischer Anzeiger vol.11, 1839, p.136. 96 The Harmonicon vol.1, 1823, p.86. 97 Wiener allgemeine musikalische Zeitung vol.8, 1824, p.98. 98 The Harmonicon vol. 4, 1826, p.106. 99 The Harmonicon vol. 6, 1828, p.137. 100 Ibid. 15 - “It consists of four movements, each of which lasts almost a quarter hour adding up to a total duration of at least three quarters of an hour” (182 8 ) 102 9 th Symphony : - “it lasted a n hour and five minutes” ( 1825 conducted by Sir George Smart) 103 - “precisely one hour and five minutes” (1825 conducted by Sir George Smart) 104 - “about seventy minutes” (1825) 105 - “cannot be much less than an hour and twenty minutes” (based on a calculation by an English critic) ( 1825 ) 106 - “1 & ¼ of an hour” (1826) 107 - “more th a n an hour” ( 1838, conducted by Moscheles in London ) 108 - “an hour and twenty minutes” ( 1841 Philharmonic concert in London) 109 A ccording to Sir George Smart (1776 - 1867) , Beethoven had told him in 1 825 that the 9 th symphony took “three - quarters of an hour only in performance ”. 110 101 The Harmonicon vol.1, 1829, p.101. 102 Allgemeine Musikzeitung zur Beförderung vol.2, 1828, p.21. 103 The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review vol.7, 18 25, p.202. (see Smart’s timing below of the same concert) 104 The Harmonicon vol.3, 1825, p.69. 105 The London Literary Gazette 1825, p.204. 106 The Harmonicon 1825, p.48. 107 Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung vol.3, 1826, p.399. 108 Allgemeiner musikalischer Anzeiger , vol.10 1838, p.126. 109 The Foreign quarterly review vol.XXVI, 1841, p.221 110 Leaves from the Journals of Sir George Smart (1907 ed.), p.123. https://archive.org/details /leavesfromjourn01coxgoog/page/n141 According to Thayer, Smart wrote the following in one of Beethoven’s conversation books: “Karl. — He would like to know the tempi of the finale of the last symphony. Haven’t you it here? — How long you worked on the symphon y? — How long does it last? — 1 hour and 3 minutes — ¾ hour” ( Life of Beethoven vol.3). 16 Q uartet no.15 O p.132 : Smart also heard a performance of the Q uartet O p.132 by the Schuppanzigh Q uartet in Beethoven’s presence, which he reported to last “three - quarters of an hour long”. 111 Fidelio : 112 2 - 2.5 hours - Weimar 1817 : 6:00 – 8: 0 0 113 - Munich 1821: 6:00 – 8 :30 114 111 Leaves from the Journals of Sir George Smart (1907 ed.), p.109. https://archive.org/details/l eavesfromjourn01coxgoog/page/n126 112 Most modern productions take around 2 hours & 20 minutes. 113 https://archive.thulb.uni - jena.de/staatsarchive /rsc/viewer/ThHStAW_derivate_00038974/004102.tif 17 - Munich 1826: 6:30 – 8 :30 115 - Bonn 1830 : 6:30 - 9:00 116 114 https://c7.alamy.com/comp/KD6KFW/fidelio - announcement - 27th - july - 1821 - perform ance - at - neues - konigliche - KD6KFW.jpg 115 https://books.google.com/books?id=wRZDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP83 116 https://commons.wi kimedia.org/wiki/File:Fidelio.jpg 18 Christus am Ölberge : 117 - “The duration of the entire work can at most be stretched out to three quarters of an hour.” (AMZ 1812) - “only 1 hour and 9 minutes ” (Beethoven’s September 24 1815 letter to Baron Treitschke) 118 Wellington’s Victory: “6 to 7 minutes” for the second part (“Victory”) (1825) 119 Missa Solemnis : - “ performed in an hour and twenty minutes ” (Bonn, 18 45) 120 - the Kyrie and Gloria together “3/4 of an hour” (AMZ 1834 , p.263) 121 From a review of the second performance of the 9 th symphony (May 23, 1824 - which has been personally supervised by Beethoven): 122 117 Typical modern recordings of the piece take around 45 - 50 minutes. 118 Beethoven's Letters 2014 ed. (Alfred Christlieb Kalischer ed.), p.377. https: //books.google.com/books?id=W8KZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA377 119 Caecilia , vol.3, 1825, p.163. 120 Leaves from the Journals of Sir George Smart (1907 ed.), p.295. https://archive.org/details /leavesfromjourn01coxgoog/page/n316 121 The timing is significantly slower than modern recordings. The two movements take on Gardiner’s recording 25 minutes, and half an hour on Giulini’s. 122 Quoted from Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony by David Benjamin Levy, pp.140 - 1. 19 Schubert ’ s 9th S ymphony in C Major : - “five minute s short of an hour” (AMZ, 1839, p. 256) - “if played with the repeats indicated, it occupies very nearly an hour.” (1865) [ according to George Grove ( 1820 - 1900 )] 123 - “nearly an hour” (1873) 124 - “omitting the repeats, a performance of it lasts just forty - eight min utes” (1875) 125 123 The Life of Franz Schubert vol.2 (1869 ed.), p.319. https://archive.org/details/lifefranzschube01grovgoog/page/n332 124 Dwight’s Journal of Music vol.33 - 34, 1873, p. 135. 125 The Monthly musical record , vol.5 1875, p.14. 20 Sir George Smart timed exactly many of the pieces which he conducted: 126 126 All the tables are taken from Tempo and Repeats in the Early Nineteenth Century by Nicholas Temperley (1966). * April 1837 concert conducted by Moscheles See Ignaz Moscheles an d the Changing World of Musical Europe b y Mark Kroll , p.224.